For International Women’s Day, we talked to Hedda Bruce, bar manager at Tjoget in Stockholm.

Hedda Bruce was recognised Best Bartender in Sweden at the Norse Bar Show (2022 & 2023) and at the Bartender’s Choice Awards (2022). Tjoget opened in 2012 and since then has been recognised among the world’s best bars, and received countless awards for their menu, bartenders, and atmosphere. They focus on serving exceptional classic cocktails with a focus on the Mediterranean region. Music and culture is at the heart of Tjoget.

The Cocktail Balance (TCB): So Hedda, tell me a bit about yourself.

Hedda: I was born and raised in the southern part of Sweden, in a small city named Karlskrona. When I was 20 years old I decided to move to Stockholm to discover what a big city had to offer.

Big city life inspired me. The pulse and social life that exists every day a week. During my years in Stockholm I’ve worked at both hotel bars and High Volume Cocktail bars. But I found that my passion was for the High Volume Cocktail bars.

I started working at Tjoget 6 years ago. And 1 ½ years ago I took over as the Bar Manager at Tjoget.

How do you pronounce Tjoget?

Shoget. The tj makes a sh sound. It’s an old fashioned word meaning 20 in Swedish that we don’t really use anymore.

Does 20 have a special significance?

The name Tjoget is taken from an old beer café that closed in the early 90s in the same neighbourhood. The previous Tjoget was located at the address number 20.

And when we opened Tjoget 12 years ago we wanted to keep the history in the neighbourhood. So we named it after the previous Tjoget.

How did you get into bartending in the first place?

I never really had a plan to become a bartender.

I started working in the restaurant industry when I was 16. On weekends and weekday evenings after school. After I finished school I took a year off travelling. At that time I thought I would know what to do or what I wanted to study when I came home from my travels.

Of course I didn’t. I still don’t know.

I started my bartender career by studying spirit productions and management. I worked as a barback for a year and a half before stepping up as a bartender.

I love working with people and seeing people having fun together. Enjoying simple things in life. Like food and drinks.

And the people in this industry gave me a lot of inspiration. And showed how you can build a career on being a bartender. That was an inspiration and still is an inspiration for me.

That was my next question, after you got started, what keeps you here, what do you enjoy about the job?

For the reasons I just mentioned.

I remember being scared of stepping up as a bartender from my barback position. I felt like I needed to be “fully learned” to become a bartender. But I realised that that is not how it is or works.

I don’t think you ever stop learning. That’s the beauty with this work. And probably also a reason why people keep doing this. Meet all these amazing people, see new cultures and never stop learning. And all the options this industry has to offer.

Is there a bar or alcohol culture that is particular to Sweden?

Our traditional alcohol and drinking culture relates most to the holidays.

When we are together with friends and family - we drink vodka/akvavit together with food that always comes with a song. No drinking in Sweden without singing.

But besides that it is very typical for Swedes to only drink at weekends. Weekdays are for work. And on weekends we go nuts. And drink as much as we can.

*In Sweden, by law bars must also have meals available. | Source Tjoget*

I love the community aspect of singing together. So, in the bartending industry there seem to be less women than men. How does that affect you as a woman bartender?

I’ve almost always been the only female bartender in all bar teams I've ever worked with. It never affected me in my work. I’ve never seen myself as another person. And I’ve always seen myself as equal to my male colleagues. And so they have considered me. I’ve been lucky to work with amazing male colleagues that never put me in a box separate from them.

I hope the future only exists with colleagues like this, who see you as one team together.

Is being a female bartender safe? If my daughter were to tell me she is going into bartending, I would be thinking about the mix of alcohol, lots of men, late at night, etc.

We need to focus more on where the problem comes from. We can not stop doing what we love because other people can’t behave or respect our gender.

And what about employers? What is their attitude toward females behind the bar?

Lately I’ve seen more and more employers searching for female bartenders when hiring new staff. It makes me happy to see. I think more employers understand how important it is and what it does to the dynamics of the group and the venue.

In your experience, what do women bring to bartending in a different way than men?

Other than that we can do exactly the same thing as anyone else, I think having different genders and non-bio genders brings more balance to the atmosphere. We need all types of people so we can learn from each other.

I’ve always used and heard the word bartender, but recently someone used barmaid, I guess barman/barmaid is more British English. When I hear the word barmaid, it brings to mind this a buxom woman pouring beer in a 1930s English or German pub.

Yeah, I’m not a big fan of that word, barmaid. I was once at a guest shift and they referred to me as a bar lady. I had never had anyone call me a bar lady before. I like the term bartender, I do exactly the same job as a man, I just happen to be a woman. There is no need to separate us in a title when we have the same job.

When you meet other women in the industry is there a special bond of being in the minority at your job? Or is it more of a rivalry, like, this is my space, get out.

No, no, no, not at all. It’s all love and support for each other. The female bar community is really strong. It makes me happy to see. And will hopefully bring more female bartenders to this industry.

Do you have any advice for a young woman thinking about going into bartending?

That you can do whatever you want. Trust yourself and that you can achieve whatever you want. Don’t let anyone else decide what you should be. Listen to the people who want to help you. And that will push you to your goals. Never be afraid of asking for advice.

What about fellow bartenders? How have your male colleagues taken you? I guess your first answer, that you’ve continued bartending because of the people, is part of the answer.

No, never anything negative from my male colleagues.

Sometimes I’ve had problems with guests, that they assume I’m not a bartender because I’m a woman. And would tell me to ask the (male) bartender to make the drinks.

It still happens, and I still love it when I prove them wrong.

Yeah, it’s more common to see a woman as a server or a runner. When I was cooking in an open kitchen I occasionally had guests come up and thank us for the meal, but thanked the man rather than me even though I was in charge. What about women guests? Do they react differently to you?

No. Maybe they feel like I will understand them better regarding what they like.

Do you find women have different tastes? There’s the stereotype of “chick drinks”, women liking sweeter drinks.

I don’t find that. Some people do like sweeter drinks but I don’t find it to be connected to gender. Sometimes a guest will ask me what I like when deciding what to order, but the question is, what do you like?

And do you have a favourite drink?

At the moment I would say dry martinis. Classics or twists on dry martinis. That seems to be what I order the most at the moment.

What about making drinks, is there one you really enjoy the process of making?

I can’t say there is a drink that I enjoy making more than others. The method of making a cocktail doesn't matter to me. For me it will always be the result of making a cocktail. Is the guest enjoying the drink? And how do I take care of the guest? You will never have a second chance to give a first impression.

I can totally relate to that. That’s why I loved working in an open kitchen, sometimes I could see the look on someone’s face as they tasted a dish that was better than they expected. It’s such a great feeling.

Yes, that's exactly. It makes one so happy.

Now you are the bar manager, is there some process or system that you have found helps cope with those busy nights?

I’m not working service as much as the rest of the team so it’s important for me to listen to those who are. We have weekly meetings and talk a lot about how we can improve, what’s working and what’s not.

I think it is important to talk about positive things as well as things we can improve. It is important to feel proud of what you do.

But something I’ve learned over the years is that stressing out will never help you in a stressful situation. You can see the whole team at Tjoget on a Friday night throwing out 1000 cocktails, with 6 ongoing shakers and 3 mixing glasses per bartender and they will still look super chill. They make me proud.

As a bar manager, what do you look for when hiring a bartender?

For me, it’s about personality. Anyone can learn the skills needed to bartend. Is a person welcoming and friendly to all people? A good ambassador for the bar?

Speaking of being an ambassador, in May you are coming to Slovakia for a guest shift at Mirror Bar!

Yes, I’ve never been to Bratislava or anywhere in Slovakia so I’m really looking forward to going. See the culture and meet new cool people! We’ll bring some recipes from our menu to showcase.

For seminars at guest shifts, do you have a topic of expertise?

Spreading the Tjoget love. On how to bring people together. And that we do this for the guests. Making the world more fun with cocktails and music.

Hedda, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me. I really enjoyed speaking together and getting your perspective.

Thanks for asking me, it was nice to talk to you too!

Hedda Bruce: I still love to prove them wrong.

A Slovak non-vermouth

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